Cobb County District 3 Commissioner JoAnn Birrell looks over the wall of the parking garage at the U Pointe Kennesaw student apartments Tuesday as she checks the progress of the next stage of development near Kennesaw State University, which has been stalled for the past 6 years due to the economy. Staff/Kelly J. Huff

TOWN CENTER — Residents will have a chance Tuesday to speak their minds about a land swap between Cobb County and a developer that would revive a 50-acre, mixed-use project near Kennesaw State University.

The Cobb Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. Tuesday at 100 Cherokee St. about the abandonment of county property. The county intends to declare that some of its rights-of-way near KSU is no longer needed and will swap that property with developer Woody Snell of TV Holdings LLC.

County rights-of-way along Hidden Forest Court, Grace Avenue and Truth Avenue, all of which are off of Big Shanty Road and near Interstate 575, are no longer needed because the subdivision once located on those streets is no longer standing. Those homes were purchased by the developer, said Rob Hosack, director of the county’s Community Development Agency.

The deal includes 2.21 acres of right-of-way owned by the developer near Big Shanty Road for 6.15 acres of unused county land. The developer has also paid $165,985 to the county, reimbursing expenses for improvements to Big Shanty Road paid for with SPLOST and another $153,002 to reimburse the amount spent acquiring property for the Noonday Creek Trail, which will

ultimately connect to the development.

Originally, Snell was to provide the county with land for the Noonday Creek Trail but when the economy took a hit, that didn’t happen.

The county had money from grants to be spent, so officials purchased land that Snell had previously agreed to donate.

County Chairman Tim Lee said he is excited to see the development moving forward and thinks it will be a good thing for Cobb residents.

Commissioner JoAnn Birrell, who represents the area, called it a “great improvement and enhancement.”

“It’s really a definite improvement, and it’s way past time since it was actually zoned about six years ago, so it’s really exciting to finally see the end result come in,” Birrell said.

The almost 50-acre, mixed-use Town Village project was approved by the Board of Commissioners in 2008 for a location near the intersection of Hidden Forest Court and Big Shanty Road.

Plans call for retail and commercial space in addition to more than 1,000 townhomes and other multifamily units.

The first phase of the project, a student housing complex, has been completed. Construction has not yet begun on the retail and other multifamily homes, but crews have demolished houses and other buildings that once stood on the property.

Snell did not return a phone message and email sent by the Journal by press time.

Let me say first that I am not against the county letting the developer have the streets inside of the Hidden Forest Subdivision. If he bought the property that surrounds it and it is not a thru-fare.

But the county giving him property along Noonday Creek??? How much did the county pay for that property??? All of which will benefit who??? (Developer Woody Snell).

BTW, Mr. Snell supposedly paid Grace Church $5.75 million for their property (according to transfer tax records), but that transaction is now tied up in civil court because Snell has not delivered. Cobb County does not need to be "working" with a developer that is shafting a church.

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